Buttermilk marinated honey chipotle chicken

We love fried chicken.....I mean who doesn't?!?!  But what makes this chicken special is the glaze its dipped in. The chipotle honey sauce is sweet with just a little kick. I recommend marinating your chicken earlier in the day before you start to fry. The buttermilk marinade will make your chicken moist and give it a wonderful crunch when fried.

Ingredients

• 12 chicken tenderloins
• 6-8 cups Canola oil or shortening

Batter

• 1 egg
• ½ cup buttermilk
• ½ cup low sodium chicken broth
• 1¼ teaspoons salt
• ¼ teaspoon pepper
• ¼ teaspoon garlic powder
• ¾ cup flour

Breading

• 1½ cups flour
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon smoked paprika
• ½ teaspoon black pepper
• ½ teaspoon garlic powder

Honey Chipotle Sauce

• ⅔ cup honey
• ¼ cup water
• ¼ cup ketchup
• 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
• 1-2 teaspoon chipotle chile powder 
• ½ teaspoon salt
• ½ teaspoon hot sauce

Instructions

1. In a small saucepan combine honey, water, ketchup, vinegar, chili powder, salt, and hot sauce. Bring to a simmer and cook for 2 minutes, stirring frequently. Remove from heat.
2. To make batter, in a medium bowl whisk together egg, buttermilk, chicken broth,salt, pepper, and garlic powder. Whisk in flour.
3. Let chicken marinate for 6-8 hours. 
4. Combine all ingredients for breading in a pie plate and mix well.
5. Heat oil to 350 degrees. Dip chicken in batter and then roll to coat in breading.
6. Fry 4 at a time, frying until golden brown and cooked through, about 4 minutes.
7. Place cooked chicken tenderloins in a large bowl and toss with honey chipotle sauce.

We eat ours with waffles!!! It would go great with the blueberry waffles in a previous post. 

Buttermilk blueberry waffles

We love blueberry waffles.....I'm not a fan of blueberries but if you put them in muffins, pancakes, or waffles I will eat until I'm sick!! Lol. Here is an awesome blueberry recipe that you will never get rid of. 

Ingredients

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• ½ cup granulated sugar
• 1-1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• ½ teaspoon baking soda
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 2 large eggs
• ¾ cup buttermilk
• ¼ cup canola oil
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1-1/2 cups fresh blueberries

Instructions

1. Preheat a waffle iron according to manufacturer's directions.
2. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cinnamon. In a medium bowl, whisk together the eggs, buttermilk, oil and vanilla. Stir the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients until just combined. Fold in the blueberries.
3. Spray the waffle iron with non-stick cooking spray and add ½-cup waffle batter to each waffle side. Close and let bake for about 2-3 minutes on each side or until golden brown and crisp on the outside.

Maple Bacon Donut Muffins

So what's better then dessert?!?! Dessert with some form of crunchy BACON on top!! DUHHH!! So here is the best of everything in life, a donut in muffin formed with a sweet maple glaze and bacon sprinkled on top. One rule: DONT FALL IN LOVE!!! 

Ingredients:

• 1/4 cup butter
• 1/4 cup vegetable oil
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1/3 cup brown sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 3/4 to 1 ¼ teaspoons ground nutmeg, to taste (I used ¾)
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 2/3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 cup milk

GLAZE:

2C powdered sugar

1/4C pure maple syrup

2-3 Tbsp water

8-10 slices bacon, cooked and roughly chopped

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 425°F. Lightly grease a standard muffin tin. Or line with 12 paper muffin cups, and grease the cups with non-stick vegetable oil spray; this will ensure that they peel off the muffins nicely.
2. In a medium-sized mixing bowl, cream together the butter, vegetable oil, and sugars till smooth.
3. Add the eggs, beating to combine.
4. Stir in the baking powder, baking soda, nutmeg, cinnamon, salt, and vanilla.
5. Stir the flour into the butter mixture alternately with the milk, beginning and ending with the flour and making sure everything is thoroughly combined.
6. Spoon the batter evenly into the prepared pan, filling the cups nearly full.
7. Bake the muffins for 15 to 17 minutes, or until they're a pale golden brown and a cake tester inserted into the middle of one of the center muffins comes out clean. 
8. 8. In a medium bowl, beat together icing          ingredients. Dip cooled donuts in icing. Immediately sprinkle with cooked,   chopped bacon.

ENJOY!!!!

Chicken Argentine

I love my cast iron skillet and I try to figure out ways that I can use it EVERYDAY. So today I had a whole chicken thawed and I slapped that bad boy in my cast iron skillet and voila...dinner. 

This chicken is juicy and has crispy skin with the great flavor of that fantastic Argentinean condiment, chimimchurri. 

Simply seasoned with kosher salt and pepper this chicken is flawless!!! Enjoy and.....Eat on!!!

Ingredients:

Whole chicken

3 lemons

10 cloves of garlic

Chimimchurri 

Oregano

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Clean and wash out bird, taking out all innards. Pat dry. Then season generously with salt and pepper. Stuff bird with 5 cloves of garlic and 1/2 of one lemon.  

Place bird in cast iron and put the garlic and lemons around and on top. Coat with chimimchurri and sprinkle oregano on top. 

I like placing butter pats(squares) on top and around my chicken, that's optional.

Place foil on top and bake for 1 hour and 30 minutes. Then remove foil and baste it in its own drippings. Also add more chimimchurri onto the chicken. Place back in oven uncovered for 30 mins. 

Take bird out and let rest. Carve and Enjoy. 

 

Cilantro lime rice

Eat that Chipotle.......ENJOY!! :)

Basmati rice

lime(s)

lemon or lemon juice

salt

fresh cilantro

Using the instructions on the back of the basmati rice, choose the amount of rice you wish to make. Follow the instructions(except cooking part) and put it in the rice cooker!!

For every 1 cup of uncooked rice, add the following to the water and cook in rice cooker:

• juice of 1 lime
• 1 teaspoon lemon juice  
• 1 teaspoon salt 

When rice is ready, fluff with fork and add 1 tablespoon of freshly chopped cilantro for every 1 cup of uncooked rice.  Add more cilantro if you like.

Barbacoa Burritos

The deal is we are on a budget and I really really wanted Chipotle but that didn't fall in the budget sooooo I just decided I'm going to do it my myself!!! So once again I went to the clearance section of the meat dept(don't be afraid of that section) and found a huge boneless chuck roast for $8!!! 

So yeah be prepared to want tiniest this everyday and not ever wanting to go to Chipotje again!!! :) ENJOY!!!

INGREDIENTS:

• 3 lbs chuck roast (fat trimmed), cut into 2-inch chunks
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 chiptoles in adobo sauce, chopped
• 1 (4-ounce) can chopped green chiles
• 1 small white onion, finely chopped (about 1 cup)
• 1/4 cup fresh lime juice
• 2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
• 3 bay leaves
• 1 Tablespoon ground cumin
• 1 Tablespoon oregano
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 1 teaspoon black pepper
• 1/4 tsp ground cloves
• 1/2 cup beef broth

DIRECTIONS:

Combine all ingredients in the bowl of a slow cooker. Toss gently to combine. Cover and cook on low for 6-8 hours.

Using two forks, shred the beef into bite-sized pieces inside of the slow cooker. Toss the beef with the juices, then cover and let the barbacoa beef soak up the juices for an extra 10 minutes. Remove the bay leaves.  Use a pair of tongs or a slotted spoon to serve the barbacoa beef.

I served this as burritos with cilantro lime rice(see recipe), guacamole, pico, and Honduran crema. 

Ramen....there's nothing else

Ok so we all know about ramen noodles.....they are like $.15/pack and they come with the salty packets of flavoring like beef, chicken, creamy chicken(ewww) and shrimp are the the only ones they I can remember. Anyways to my point I had legit ramen noodles at this awesome place in Seattle, in Uwijimaya, in China town.....and I swear I saw the heavens open and an angel float down and bless my food. It was salty, thick, rich, brothy(not a word), porky goodness in a bowl with lime, cilantro and jalapeños. Ahhhhh sweet mana from heaven.....ok well this morning whilst in my bed that bowl of pure perfection came to my mind and I got out my bed woke up the minion and bribed her to go to Kroger with me. And all I can say is......WORTH IT!!! Go now stop what your doing and get the things you need to make this....HOLD UP, did I mention that this broth is made in the crockpot...CROCKPOT!!! ENJOY!!

INGREDIENTS:

• 2-3 pounds pork shoulder roast bone in
• 4 cups low sodium chicken broth
• 1/2 cup + 2-4 tablespoons low sodium soy sauce
• 1/4 cup + 2-4 tablespoons rice vinegar
• 2 tablespoons fish sauce
• 2 tablespoons thai red curry paste
• 1 tablespoon fresh ginger
• 1 tablespoon sambal oelek (chili paste) 
• The juice of 1 lime
• 1 tablespoon Chinese five spice
• 1 teaspoon black pepper
• 2 tablespoons sesame oil
• 1/4 cup + 1 tablespoon brown sugar
• 2 cups wild mushrooms,
• 4 packs Ramen noodles, seasoning packets discarded
• 4 fried eggs, for serving
• sliced jalapenos, cilantro + green onions, for serving

DIRECTIONS:

Add the pork to the bowl of a crockpot. Pour the chicken broth, 1/2 cup soy sauce, 1/4 cup rice vinegar and fish sauce over the pork. Add the thai red curry paste, ginger, sambal oelek, juice of 1 lime, Chinese five spice powder, black pepper and 1 tablespoon brown sugar. Cover the crockpot and cook on low for 7-8 hours. 

Remove the pork from the crockpot and add the mushrooms. Cover the crockpot and put heat up to high. Shred the pork with two forks or tongs but it should fall apart by blowing on it...

Heat a large skillet over medium heat. Add the sesame oil. Once hot, add 1/2 pork to cover just the surface of your skillet, do not over crowd the skillet. Sprinkle a little brown sugar over the pork, add 2 tablespoons soy sauce and 2 tablespoons rice vinegar, toss. Allow the pork to caramelize, about 2 minutes. Stir and allow the pork to continue to caramelize, about 3-5 minutes total. Remove the pork from the skillet.

Add the Ramen noodles to the crockpot and allow them to cook. Once the noodles are cooked, stir in noncarmelized half of the pork. Put soup into bowls. Top with caramelized pork and an egg. Season the egg with salt and pepper, Add the jalapeños, green onions and cilantro. 

Get ready to have your face in the bowl!!